Rhythmic Revelations: Exploring Rawhide Spirit Drum Sizes

Selecting the perfect rawhide spirit drum size is crucial for your hand drumming experience. Whether you're considering budget, purpose, or portability, this guide will help you find the ideal rawhide drum size for your needs. We have spent years playing a variety of hand drum sizes for fun and for shamanic journeying.

1. Understanding Rawhide Spirit Drums

See the difference between a frame drum and a hoop drum.

  • Our hand-crafted rawhide spirit drums are tribal style drums,  and are used with a drumstick. Shamanic medicine drums and journey drums are often called frame drums. Frame drums are actually a totally different style of drum that is used to play Middle Eastern music by tapping on the rim and center of the drum with the hands.
  • The tribal style drums we craft and that are made in our drum birthing workshops have laces that are wrapped with buckskin to make them soft and comfortable to hold. That does add a little bit of weight and thickness to the handle, though.

2.Rawhide Spirit Drum Sizes: A Detailed Comparison

A table that compares rawhide hand drum sizes.

 

3. Factors to Consider When Choosing Your Drum Size

  • Purpose (e.g., personal use, shamanic journeys, performances, energy work)
  • Portability requirements
  • Hand size and comfort
  • Desired tone and depth
  • Budget constraints
  • Drum Personality

4. Why Many Drummers Build a Collection

  • Many drummers have a collection of drums so they can fill all their drum needs. Every drum has its own personality and best time to be played. They  don’t all suite every purpose.
  • I personally prefer a 12” drum for walking through the woods and a 14” drum for shamanic drum journeys. There are times when someone just needs a huge vibration, and I will use a big spirit drum so they can feel the energy move through their whole body at once. Mike prefers the 18" drum for the deep bass tones all the time.

5.     Special Consideration

I hope this has helped you decide what size rawhide spirit drum you need next. The most important thing is that your hand drum fits your needs and is comfortable to play for the amount of time you want to play it!

Check out our comparison video on YouTube (insert link) and see the spirit drums we have available to adopt now! (insert link)

We would love to know your favorite drum sizes, and why in the comments.

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